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“You’re pregnant?” My eyes were bugging out of my head. Cecilia blushed and nodded.
“Man, you guys didn’t waste any time! I’m going to be an uncle!” I laughed happily, clapping my brother on the shoulder and giving him a hug. “This is the happy news we needed to hear after everything. I’m so happy for you both!” I told them honestly.
“Yes, but we’re keeping it quiet for now. So it’s not making light of people’s loss,” Lucien said, and I nodded, understanding.
“Violet also wishes that we keep her news to ourselves. She doesn’t want the pack feeling sorry for her,” Mom said.
“But that’s not healthy...” Dad started.
“I know, my love, but that’s how she’s choosing to cope at this moment, and we need to respect her wishes. Only family knows, and she’d like to keep it that way,” she told everyone. Then she sighed. “I’m hoping she’ll go to therapy once she’s out of her shock.”
I went back to work after lunch but came back for dinner. It was quiet as we gave Violet space. She looked like a shell of herself. She had always been the quiet one of us all, but you could always see the love and joy she had in her eyes. They were dull right now. She ate a few bites before she left, but not before she gave me a hug. She said nothing to me, but for one moment, I could feel her love for all of us underneath all the pain. We would need to bring it back to the surface little by little.
I walked home after dinner, and as I approached the huge pack house, I couldn’t help but feel so alone right now. I was the only Salonen left in this big house. Everyone had left me and continued their lives. I felt like I was stuck in a holding pattern. Life was moving forward, but I didn’t feel like I was going anywhere. Not with half of my soul missing.
My thoughts went back to Evie and the words Tenoch said the night we got drunk. For the first time in my life, I seriously considered if taking a chosen mate was my destiny. But even if I was willing, would she? Evie was always more Bell’s friend than mine.
I was the one who always secretly crushed on her. She’d gone off and found boyfriends and a life outside of the pack for the last decade while I stayed the same person I’d always been, in the same place, with the same people. If she could walk away from me before, what made me think she could possibly want anything to do with me now? Would she be willing to give up the most precious thing to wolves to be with me?
We need to woo her. The old fashion way. The way humans do, - Tenoch suggested.
Are we really going to do this? Take her away from her goddess-given mate because we don’t want to wait for ours? What if she finds him one day and rejects us or resents us? I asked.
Tenoch whimpered at the thought, and I looked up at the sky, wondering why I deserved to be in this situation. I went up to my room, showered and changed. My mind and my heart in turmoil.
I wish I hadn’t figured out that this was more than just a silly childhood crush. I was much happier before that.
I struggled to fall asleep and woke up tired and in a bad mood. I got up and changed. Jo, Melinda and James came up to the floor in the morning while I was cooking breakfast.
“What’s cooking this morning?” Jo asked.
“Just migas,” I said, making sure the tortilla strips were crispy enough before I added the scrambled eggs. “There’s salsa in the fridge, and grab two containers for Evie and Zi,” I instructed James.
He nodded and went around gathering things while Jo grabbed plates and cups for the table. When I was ten or so, Dad remodeled the alpha floor to include a kitchen. Mom loved to cook, but any time she tried to cook downstairs, people would flock and hover, hoping to get a taste. Dad refused to let her cook more than twice a week because she was always busy with luna duties, and she didn’t know how to say no to people wanting food. But, after adding the kitchen to the alpha floor, she was able to cook to her heart’s content when she could carve out some time.
I loved this kitchen. This was where Mom taught me to cook and bake. It held some of my fondest memories. After Mom and Dad moved out, I decided to have breakfasts up here with the boys. It was a good way to keep connected and not feel so lonely. I thought since Jo found his mate, that they would go downstairs and eat with the rest of the pack house, but Melinda seemed content to eat in the smaller setting.
After we ate breakfast, I walked over to the new building. James had to take care of training, and Jo had paperwork to get to. I didn’t need to go see them every morning, and I hoped she didn’t think that I was checking up on her so often, but I couldn’t resist seeing her. She was stuck in my head twenty-four-seven, and this was the only way to get Tenoch to stop whimpering through the day.
“Good morning!” Zi greeted me when I walked in.
“Morning! Brought you breakfast,” I said, pulling out a container for her. “Is Evie not here?” I asked when I noticed her office was empty.
“No. She dashed off pretty early this morning. Something about an idea last night and she wanted to see if it would work. She ran off before Molly was even awake.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, my voice dripping with disappointment. I put the container down and tried to smile at her.
“How are you liking the pack so far? Everyone treating you alright?” I asked.
“Everyone’s been lovely, Alpha.”
“Have you gotten all the stuff you need for your house?”
“Not all, but most of it. The rest we can get when we get paid,” Zi answered.
“What is it that you guys need?” I asked.
“Just living room furniture, mostly. Evie lived in a pack house, furnished apartment, and I had a studio, so we never needed the stuff before. We also need a few kitchen appliances.”
