“But what if I wasn’t able to cover or change my scent?” Worry bubbled up in my gut.
“Then I would have gone to war.” He said it so matter-of-factly that my stomach dropped out from under me. “I wouldn’t have forced you to go back to a pack where you would have been abused, betrayed, and then killed for a second time.” My dad shook his head. “I would move heaven and earth to protect you.”
“But…”
“No buts. I love you too much to watch you suffer. But both your mother and I knew you could do it. We believed in you.”
“That much?”
“Of course.” He smiled as he pulled me into his arms as we stood. “You are our pup. Your mother would have torn that pack to the grounds if you were forced into anything.” He chuckled. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too, Daddy.” He hugged me a little longer before pushing me out the door. I saw the first tear fall as he shut the door in my face.
I stood at the door for a few seconds, debating between leaving him or going back in to plead to stay a little longer. But I knew once he decided he would stick to it. And right this second, his mind was made up because something was going on back home.
I dropped my hand and turned away, feeling like garbage, but giving him the space he needed. He hated when I left to go back to mom’s, so did I. I huffed out a breath and headed down the stairs.
The pack house was eerily silent. I was so used to hearing someone run through the rooms, or the Omega’s cleaning, that the silence was deafening. But I shook it off. I was being dramatic. I just didn’t want to leave. I reached the bottom floor, and I saw the two families I saved were waiting by the door with Ronnie. “What are you guys doing here?”
The four little kids ran over to me and all hugged me. “We don’t want you to leave.” Ry’s voice broke out above the rest and I crouched. I hugged them all and cupped his cheek.
“I wish I could stay, but my mom is waiting for me, and I need to go home.” I felt like I was telling not only him, but myself.
“But this is your home, too.” He stomped his foot and I couldn’t help but laugh. He was adorable.
“You are right. This is my home too, but I need to go back.” I played with his little hand. Remembering why I had to go home. It wasn’t just because of my mom. And the promise. But because my dad was right. I needed to see my past life through. I needed to show Brandon and Shannon that they couldn’t hurt me this time around.
“But why?” The other kids went back to their parents, but little Ry latched onto my arm and refused to move.
“I made a promise.” I hugged him again. “And you know Ry, if you make a promise…”
“Keep it. My Dad said a wolf’s word is their bond.” He pulled back and met my eyes. I just nodded. “Will you come back?”
“Of course.” I ruffled his hair. “I promise.” I smiled and winked. He winked back and ran back to his parents, who were still looking a little weak, but better than the day before. “I’m glad you are both on your feet.”
“Us too.”
“We all wanted to have a private moment with you.” Ry’s dad stepped up next to the others. “You saved all of us.” The two families nodded. “I don’t think there is anything in this world that we could give you that would matter as much as that fact, but we wanted you to have this.” He held out a bag.
“You don’t need to give me anything.” I tried to push it away, but Ry’s mom grabbed my hand.
“Please.” Her eyes were shiny and her lips trembled. “It isn’t anything special, like my mate said. But we have been working on this for a while, and this is the only thing we could think of that conveyed just how much we appreciated everything you did for us.”
I looked at the two couples. The other parents nodded. Ry’s mom held on to my hand and turned. “You don’t know just how much you did for us.” She wrapped her arm around the other mom. “This is my sister. You not only saved my children, my husband, and my life. But you saved my sister, my brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew.” She smiled. “We have been working on this together and we both agreed to give it to you.”
“Okay.” I took the bag finally and hugged them all before I turned to Ronnie. “Let’s go.”
Ronnie was out the front door first, and when I followed, I stopped short. The entire pack was out front of the pack house. All the ranked wolves were first. Tina, Greyson and Cass were atthe bottom of the stairs, and the rest of the pack lined the path to the street.
I looked at Ronnie, but he just smiled and went down the lined pathway to the car where Lynn waited already. “What’s going on?” I took a step and the entire pack dropped to their knees.
“For everything you did for this pack.” Tina called out.
“For the lives you saved!” Greyson shouted.
“And for almost losing your own life to save the pups of this pack.” Cass’s voice wavered as she called out.
“Silvermoon pack Salut.” My father’s voice called out from above.
