Unsure how best to alleviate fear that’s deeply rooted from the years of my father’s reign, I keep my voice low and even. “If anyone keeps you from doing your work, come to me or Sam. You are under my protection.”
She dips her chin a fraction of an inch in acknowledgement, while also making sure to leave her neck exposed. “Yes, Alpha.”
I sigh, understanding that she won’t be able to calm down until I leave. It’s frustrating how much I resemble my father. It makes it harder, no matter what I do, to keep them from seeing him when they look at me.
Ironically, I’m also about to disrupt this woman’s work for my own needs. “I need to speak with Alpha Martina,” I explain, motioning with my thumb at the door. “Sorry for disrupting your routine. Do you have any other work you can do while I speak to her?”
Forced to think, she looks toward the late afternoon sun that’s making its descent into dusk. “It’s more difficult to do my rounds in the dark,” she admits carefully, testing the words like any could be bombs.
“I’ll make the conversation quick and send someone to help,” I offer, doing my best to express that I hear her and she’s safe to share what she thinks.
“That would be helpful. Thank you.” Her chin finally drops to a normal angle, and she motions to a shed about twenty feet from the greenhouse. “I can check the daily logs in the meantime.”
I withhold a shudder at the mere thought of reviewing daily logs. Weekly reports are bad enough. Offering what I hope is a nonthreatening smile, I reply, “Thank you.”
Her answering smile is small but genuine, and she waves goodbye before making her way toward the shed. Before I forget, I send off a quick text to find someone to help her and where she can be found. Sam responds with a salute emoji and a grinningemoji. I guess she cooled down a bit since I agreed to talk with my mother.
Releasing a deep breath, I enter the greenhouse and find my mother with one of her betas who’s holding a clipboard. She’s rattling off notes and instructions as she examines a very healthy tomato plant.
“What are you doing?” I ask without preamble, already believing that my suspicions are true.
My mother holds a hand to her chest and gasps, “Oh,mijo,you startled me.”
“Not expecting anyone to come in with your mate guarding the door?” My tone is harder than I intend, showing my feelings when I was hoping to hide them behind my cool, neutral veneer.
She’s immediately on guard but tries to hide it with a smile and a flap of her hand. “Forrest is just overprotective. I didn’t want him hovering, so the compromise was the door.”
“He’s now waiting in your room,” I reply without further explanation. Sending a pointed look toward the clipboard, I repeat, “What are you doing?”
“This?” She makes a dismissive motion with her hand, but the nervousness in her eyes betrays her. “It’s nothing. My pack has lived long enough on your generosity. It’s beyond time for us to pull our weight around here. I’m simply walking around to see where we can help the most.”
My gut clenches, and I have to fight to keep my hands loose. “That isn’t your decision to make. What about your land? As you lend out your pack, who tends to it?”
A moment of fear flashes in her blue eyes, and the smile on her face isn’t as warm. She turns to her beta. “Could you please give us a moment? I need to speak to my son privately.”
The man utters a quick, “Yes, Alpha,” before striding outside.
He’s hers to command, but the way she speaks feels more like she’s gracing me with her time instead of speaking to another alpha—an alpha who can easily kick her pack off of his land.
Standing with my arms crossed, I wait for an answer, the hope I clung to shrinking by the second. In the silence, I can see her mind testing different angles to make her answer not sound like what it is—a power grab.
“You never intended to leave,” I state bluntly, hope shriveling inside me.
“Mijo, we were chased off our land by humans who hunt us. Half of our pack was slaughtered in the night as they slept. My alpha survived long enough to transfer his power to me. His final command was to flee.” She sniffs and uses her fingers to blot the moisture from her eyes. “The witches were no help. They only offered platitudes to look into the hunters. Each pack must answer to one of their kind, but they don’t care about us.”
My heart aches as the brittle knife of truth splinters within me. “You didn’t come for me. You came because you didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
She closes the distance between us and tries to reach for my hand, but I pull away before her treacherous hand can graze my skin. Dejectedly, her arms hang at her sides. “It’s not like that,mijo.I came here because I finally had the power to face your father. It was the perfect solution to end the bastard and find a new home.”
“The bastard is dead. Your plan failed.” My eyes narrow into hard slits. “Why are you still here?”
My mother clasps her hands together, and she looks at me with a mixture of sadness and pity. “Not all of my plans, if you’ll allow it. We can still make a home here, but not like it is now. I meant it when I said it’s time for us to help.”
“Two packs answering to two alphas won’t create bonds. They will always resist.” I look down at her with a cold, knowing sneer. “Are you offering to transfer your power to me so they become one pack?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she exclaims before thinking.
I let her statement sit in the silence, all that it implies hanging in the space between us.
