Watching her was painful but also beautiful.Ryan wished Nicholas could be here with them and that he could see his daughter sleeping, safe and sound.He’d never had the opportunity to do that.Alyssa had never been fully safe before.
Madeleine slipped out of the bedroom and closed the door.She paused for a moment, listening, but Alyssa was asleep.
Madeleine’s shoulders relaxed.“I swear that every time I put her down, she wakes up.It’s a miracle she hasn’t this time.”
“Don’t jinx it.I’m sure you want to eat before she starts screaming for you.”
Madeleine grimaced.“It would be nice to be able to eat with both of my hands for once.”
Alyssa was still so young.At one and a half years old, she shouldn’t have already lived through everything she’d lived through.She shouldn’t have lost her father.This shouldn’t be the first time she was safe and had a real home.
Ryan looked around the house as he and Madeleine walked downstairs.The place where they’d lived with the coven had been a house, but it had never truly been a home.It hadn’t been safe.There hadn’t been any love there.Every family kept to themselves, too afraid to reach out and be hurt for it, too afraid to be accused of plotting against the coven leaders if they made friends.Sometimes, Ryan wondered how the coven members had even managed to fall in love and build families.
He hadn’t, and he was fine with that.After seeing what Madeleine had gone through, he was glad he’d never fallen in love.He didn’t think he would’ve survived losing the person he loved the way Madeleine had.Of course, Madeleine had Alyssa to think about, but still.
Alyssa hadn’t deserved to lose her father in a fight no one but their coven leaders had wanted and had benefited from.Madeleine hadn’t deserved to find herself raising her daughter alone.
When they walked into the kitchen, the air smelled of tomato and garlic.Their mother was checking the rolls in the oven, but when she looked up and smiled, Ryan relaxed.
He hadn’t seen his mother smile in a long time.
He flopped on a chair at the kitchen table, knocking his knee against Madeleine’s when she sat next to him.She knocked back and laughed, and that was something else Ryan hadn’t seen for a long time.
He’d had his doubts when he’d agreed to move in with the pack.He still did.He didn’t care that they were living with shifters, but he was pretty sure that those shifters cared that they were mages.He couldn’t blame them after what the coven had done.The pack might not have been personally impacted yet, but they’d seen what the coven would do and what happened to other packs.Of course they didn’t want the mages to live there.
Not that anyone had said anything to Ryan personally yet, but he was sure it was coming.
“She’s sleeping?”their mom asked.
“Finally,” Madeleine said with a nod.“I’m not sure what else to do.”
“I don’t think there’s anything else you can do except be there for her.She’s been through a lot, even though she doesn’t understand it.She needs her mother.”
Because Alyssa would never have her father.Nicholas was gone.
Ryan told himself not to think about it.Nicholas wouldn’t have wanted him to get so angry every time he was mentioned, even in passing.He would’ve been happy to know that his family was safe and that they would never have to follow their leaders’ orders again.
Ryan’s mom opened one of the cupboards, yelping when the top hinge came off, and the door almost fell on her head.Ryan pushed his magic outward, keeping the door up so it wouldn’t hurt his mom.She blinked at it, then shook her head.“We really need to do something about this place.”
Ryan got up from his chair and went to take down the door.It wouldn’t look great, but at least that way, it wouldn’t fall on whoever opened the cupboard next.“If only one of us knew what they were doing when it came to house renovations,” he teased.
Their mom was famous in their family for attempting to change things in their living spaces and dramatically failing.Last time, it had been a mural for Alyssa’s bedroom.Ryan still saw the bear she’d painted in his nightmares.
“It could be worse,” Madeleine said.
That much was true.They could still be living back at the coven house.That would definitely be worse.At least here, they were free.They knew that no one would send them to their death just so they could make the pack stronger and more powerful.Ryan didn’t trust the pack, but he did trust that their alpha would never do something like that.
“We could probably reach out to the alpha and ask him about it,” he offered as he leaned the door against the wall.
“I don’t want to bother the poor man,” Ryan’s mom said as she grabbed plates.“He already has so much work to do.”
“It’s kind of his job, though,” Ryan pointed out.
“It being his job doesn’t mean we need to bother him with things that aren’t important.He’s still dealing with the coven.He has his pack to lead.That’s enough for one man.”
Ryan didn’t point out that technically, it wasn’t a one-man job.Chance was a good alpha, but he wasn’t the only one in charge.He had a beta, an alpha mate, and his father, the old alpha, still worked with him.Ryan agreed that he wouldn’t want to bother the alpha for something that didn’t matter, but he was pretty sure that Chance would want them to tell him they needed help.It was what he’d said when he’d welcomed them into the pack.
Ryan looked around.He didn’t hate the house they’d been given.In fact, he quite liked it.It was a safe space for their family, a place where they didn’t have to worry about someone seeing them doing something they weren’t supposed to do or hearing something they weren’t supposed to say.No one could come in except for the people they wanted to come in.There were no spells spying on them.They were as safe as they could be considering the circumstances.
