Page 130 of Game of Destiny

“We would be happy to have you. You fit into our pack and we would love to make it permanent,” I said.

“And the house is yours. As Martin’s closest family it should fall to you. No money is needed to exchange hands. The money can be used for other things,” Finlay said.

“I have always wanted to open a flower shop,” Bridget told us.

“Oh, we don’t have one of those in the village!” I was excited about the idea, maybe I could talk to her and see if she was interested in expanding her idea into something like a garden centre. Then I didn’t need to go all the way into the closest human town to get things for my garden.

“I will become your first and most loyal customer. Amie has a thing for flowers,” Finlay told her.

The family thanked us and we told them Medow would be in touch with them to plan the bloodening.

We headed for the meeting room where the rest of the top tier waited for us.

As we sat down, Finlay fished an energy bar out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I smiled and accepted it. We talked with the group for a long while.

It was a mix of sadness and relief in the air.

Medow and I were the only two who had never been a part of the Ocean Shore pack.

All the others had been born and raised in the pack and needed to grieve its destruction.

At the same time, we were all happy not to have what had happened in the pack in the last year hanging over us.

Grieving was the first step in moving on.

It was nice to get into our bed, in our house, at the end of the day. I let Finlay pull me into him.

“Do you feel better?” I asked. He chuckled and kissed me.

“I should be asking you, but yes. I feel a lot better. I’m starting to come to terms with killing him. I don’t feel any remorse about it and I’m getting to terms with my lack of guilt as well,” he told me. I let my fingers trace his face.

“Good. I’m not sorry he is gone either. I’m happy you are here, that our pup is here and that we all are home.

” I knew it might cause issues when Finlay’s mother and his brother’s mate came.

But I was ready to kick them out of the pack the second they tried to make Finlay feel bad about what he did.

He had been protecting me and our pup and I would happily return the favour.

Late afternoon the next day, Finlay and I got a mindlink from the guard at the gate. Finlay’s mother and Sarah had just entered the pack land.

“We better go and greet them,” I said, holding out my hand towards him.

He took it and followed me as he mindlinked his aunt.

The three of us watched as the car with our two warriors and the two women drove into the village and up to the pack house.

Tamara looked older and tired. It wasn’t hard to see the past year had been hard on her.

The other woman who stepped out of the car, Sarah, looked terrified.

In a way I could understand her. She was an Omega who had mated the worst kind of Alpha.

She had to leave her own pack and had been stranded in the Ocean Shore pack ever since.

I didn’t know what she had been through during her time in that pack, but I guessed it wasn’t the most pleasant experience.

Now she was forced to another pack, one where the Alpha had killed her mate.

Again, I knew nothing about her relationship with Ryder.

If she had loved him, meeting the man who killed him must be hard.

For the first time, I questioned why she hadn’t gone back to her original pack, now when she could.

“Tamara, welcome,” I said and smiled at my mother-in-mating.

“Amie, thank you. You look absolutely radiating,” Tamara told me and a tired smile came across her face. She reached out to hug me but Finlay pulled me in behind him as he took a step to place himself between me and our guests.

“No touching,” he told them. Matilda gave me a look and then walked up and gave her sister a hug. I knew what the look meant; deal with him while I distract the guests.

‘Finn, I know you are on edge, but she isn’t going to squeeze me to death,’ I mindlinked him.

‘Stranger things have happened,’ he answered.

‘I will be careful,’ I promised. I walked around him and stopped by his side again. When he didn’t react and Matilda had hugged her sister, I walked up to Tamara and gave her a quick hug and then returned to Finlay’s side. He put his arm around my shoulders.

“This is Sarah,” Tamara said. We all nodded towards her and she visibly shrank when our focus was on her. Tamara placed her hand on the young woman’s back.

“Welcome. We have arranged two rooms for you in the pack house,” I told them. Sarah looked terrified by the mere suggestion. I wondered how she would survive a week with us.

“Would it be too much trouble for us to share a room?” Tamara asked.

“Not at all,” I said, thinking it would be the best thing. I mindlinked a pack member to ask them to put a new room in order and then tell Matilda which one.

“We thought it would be nice with a family dinner tonight. It has been too long since last time. Amie and Finlay will cook for us,” Matilda said.

She skipped the part where both Finlay and I were hesitant to have the two women amongst the pack.

We wanted to make an evaluation of them first. Family dinner was a nice excuse.

“Sounds lovely,” Tamara agreed. Matilda took the guests to show them the pack house and get them settled in. I took Finlay home to make sure he calmed down before he needed to use sharp objects to cook.