My heart stumbles. “You… you know?”
She chuckles. “Wren, the town is full of gossip. Of course I know. It’s Willa, isn’t it? That woman couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it.”
I groan, pressing my palm to my forehead. “Ugh, Willa.”
“All of them,” my mother corrects with a chuckle. “Willa, Cora, June… you think I don’t have eyes and ears back home? Everyone has been talking about you and those three Alphas since the festival.”
I sit down at the counter stool, my pulse thudding. “Well, that wasn’t what I called for. Not exactly. I wanted… I needed advice. About the registration.”
Her voice shifts, gentle but serious. “With Miss Thea?”
“Yeah. The guys want to register. Make us official. I—I don’t know what to do. What do you think?”
My mother exhales slowly, like she’s been expecting this. “Sweetheart, registration isn’t something casual. It’s more permanent than anything else. It’s your scents blended and sealed in a public record. It’s the government recognizing you as a pack under law. Once you do it, you can’t just walk away without a full legal dissolution.”
I bite my lip, my chest tightening. “So, you think I shouldn’t?”
She pauses, and I can hear the ache in her voice. “It’s a choice only you can make, Wren. I did it with your father, and I regret it. Not because of you, never because of you. But because the bond made it harder to leave when I should have. It held me in a place I should have run from years earlier.”
I close my eyes, my heart breaking for her. “Oh, Mom.”
My mother is silent for a long moment. Then she sighs. “It’s okay. I’m okay. What was I saying? Okay, um… I registered. Your grandmother, on the other hand, never registered. She had her Alphas, and they stayed with her until the end. She outlived them all. Sometimes I think she regretted not registering because it meant her bond wasn’t protected by law. Other times, I think she was grateful because it gave her the freedom to love without the paperwork, without the chains.”
I blink at the tears stinging my eyes. “Grandma had a pack?”
“Yes,” my mother says softly. “Three men who adored her. I grew up watching them, thinking that was what love was supposed to be. Gentle. Fierce. Equal. It wasn’t until later, with your father, that I realized not all bonds look the same.”
My throat closes. “I don’t think I’ll regret it, Mom. Not with them. I love them. I really, truly love them.”
Her voice warms, soft but certain. “I know you do. I can hear it in every word.”
I draw in a shaky breath. “There’s… there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
The words stick, but I force them out. “I think I might be pregnant.”
There’s a beat of silence on the line, and for one awful second, I think the call dropped. Then my mother gasps, and the sound is pure joy.
“Oh, my darling girl.” Her voice cracks, trembling with emotion. “A baby. My baby is having a baby.”
Tears spill down my cheeks. “You’re not mad?”
“Mad?” She laughs through her tears. “Wren, you’ve just given me the happiest news I’ve heard in years. I am so proud of you. So happy for you.” Her voice softens. “This is what you deserve. To be loved. To have a family that adores you. And now, to give that love to your child.”
I press my hand to my stomach, overwhelmed.
“I’ll be coming home soon,” she says firmly.
“What about the cruise?” My voice wavers. “I thought you wanted to travel, to get away.”
“I thought I did. But now… I’d rather be home. With you. With the people who love me. That’s where I belong.”
My tears are hot, streaming down my cheeks as I choke out, “Come home, Mommy.”
Her voice is soft, confident, full of everything I’ve been craving since I was a little girl. “I will, sweetheart. I promise.”
We stay on the line a little longer, trading small words through our tears until I know if I don’t hang up now, I’ll never be able to.
