TM [Complete ✔️]

27. Dinner

Zane's P.O.V

Looking away from Sofia, I turned to one of the nurses, calling her over.

"Get your team and bring everyone out, please. Also, find out if the she-wolves," I nodded to the remaining women, "have any family or friends you could leave them with." With a nod, the nurse rushed over to pass my requests to the rest, and soon, I watched as everyone filed out of the basement, immediately making it feel less stuffy.

With only me, Beyla, and Sofia left, I let my eyes close for a moment as my daughter smushed my face around and poked at my eyelids, forcing them open only to find Sofia staring at us.

As soon as I caught her, she looked away.

She looked like she'd aged ten years in the past hour alone, her skin pale and eyes lifeless. Her usual smiles and positivity were as if evaporated from her, in their place left all the sadness you could stuff into a person.

She was lying on one of the thin mattresses sprawled on the cold floor, covered with a blanket her fingers wouldn't stop picking at.

Sighing, I sat next to her, Sofia scooting to make space for me. Setting my little girl on my knee, I continued to look at the she-wolf, wondering what to say after so long.

"I lost my home," she croaked after a moment of silence, her voice hoarse, "it's gone." Her brown eyes lifted to meet mine, tears welling up in them. "I may not have liked it at times - it was too quiet, too dark, too... lonely - but it was mine and I worked so hard to have it and now it's just gone." Guilt settled itself into my chest, reminding me it was me who couldn't prevent this from happening.

If I'd worked harder then perhaps rogues wouldn't have thought of Silver Claws as weak and they never would've attacked, if only I'd worked harder, been stronger, I could've seen that my members weren't ready for an attack, and would've done something about it. But despite the all-consuming guilt I was feeling, I could still tell the house itself wasn't why Sofia was so upset. And perhaps it wasn't my place to ask, but, "You're not that upset about the house, are you? There's something else?"

I knew I was right when she buried her face in her hands and sobs wrecked her body, making it shake. The only sound other than her cries was my pup's coos as she continued to poke me and grab at the blanket, trying to stuff it in her mouth and getting frustrated when I wouldn't let her have it.

"It's-it's not about the house but about what was inside it," she hiccuped, "all of my memories of Lilly and Rowan, all of my pictures and letters, paintings, everything I had from them's gone." My heart fell for her, unable to even imagine what that felt like. "I had Lily's first outfit, the first thing my pup ever wore, I had a shirt of Rowan's I hugged when I had a hard time with the quiet at night, I had photos and I hadn't even looked at them in a while because I was trying to move on! I thought If I didn't look at them but knew they were there, I'd have an easier time, and now I'll never see their faces again and it's all my fault for being so stupid!" Vulnerability shone in her eyes as waterfalls of tears couldn't stop falling down her cheeks. "I should-I should've looked at them when I had the chance, just once! I should've made copies or something!"

Pulling her hand away from her so she wouldn't hurt herself, I set it on the mattress, covering it with my own and rubbing soothing circles across the skin.

"Oh, Sof," I croaked, imagining the mess I'd be if I lost my Rosie's stuff. If I never saw her face again until I died. If I never had something to show Beyla when she was old enough to see, squeezing her hand extra hard. "It's not your fault, none of it. You couldn't have known how evil the world truly could get."

"But I should've! I should've known!"

She was once again inconsolable, sobbing so loudly I was sure her throat hurt by now. Still, I sat by her, holding her hand all the while telling myself it meant nothing. That I was simply trying to comfort her because of our similar situations and because I could understand her best.

Beyla reached over, cupping Sofia's face with her chubby hands and pushing her cheeks into her mouth, giggling to herself. Sofia, instead of pushing the pup away, let out something between a sob and a laugh, pulling my little girl into her arms and holding her close.

I watched as my daughter continued to poke and prod Sofia's face, something that would've annoyed anyone else at this point, but she didn't seem to mind. Slowly, the two's eyelids drooped closed as I covered them with the blanket and let them sleep, pushing myself against the wall for what I promised myself was only ten minutes of rest before I went back to work.

Only, I knew I'd dozed off as soon as the door swung open, an old male's frantic eyes settling on Sofia before they fell on me, something akin to both hatred and confusion swimming in his gaze.

"Sorry, Alpha, I didn't know you were here too." Pushing myself off the wall, I shushed him, pushing him outside and closing the door behind us.

"Let them sleep," I said, looking him over, "Gregory, right?" The male nodded, his gaze glued to the door.

"I heard Sofia was injured, is she okay?" He asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," I responded, his gaze shifting to me in a glare.

"Meaning?"

"She went through a lot today. Her home burnt down." His eyes widened as a sad smile overtook his face.

"My poor Sofie," he whispered, intending for it to be heard only by him but obviously failing.

"And who are you to her?" I asked sharply, not knowing why but not caring to think it over.

Anything regarding that she-wolf was lost of logic to me.

"A friend. We're like father and daughter, no need to get jealous. And before you growl or pin me to a wall, I know what you two are." So she hadn't kept it a secret from him, then, while I hadn't told even my family. "The only thing I'm failing to understand is why you're here now when you've done nothing but hurt her for months?" He stared me down, and I should've been able to tell him to leave, to tell him not to meddle in our business, but I couldn't. So I opted to run away myself, telling Gwynn to bring me my pup when she woke up.

***

Somehow, the Omegas managed to make some dinner, a large part of the pack eating at the tables around the large room.

After I left Gwynn to take care of Beyla, I returned to my best friend, the two of us helping my uninjured warriors and volunteers move wolves' belongings into the pack house.

Unfortunately, it wasn't only Sofia's home that had burnt down; there were barely any houses left intact. Some of them, a smaller part than the latter, simply needed a clean and a small renovation here and there, while all others were burnt to a crisp. And despite working through my anxiety for the past few months, I was a ball of nerves with so many of my pack members in one place. I wanted to be able to close my eyes in the full house and sleep soundly, knowing my pup was in the other room, but I couldn't, so I was dreading the night already.

I had hardly touched the food, pushing it around the plate with my fork as Knox let me wallow in silence. Until Sofia walked in, sitting next to Gregory with a huge grin plastered on her face as if her eyes weren't still swollen from the crying she'd done hours earlier. I watched as wolves rushed to her, telling her how sorry they were about her home, about the garden she'd worked so hard on, watched as she brushed them off and told them it'll be alright.

And then I watched as she exhaled and recollected herself when no one was watching before she slipped the mask back on her face, smiles and all.

"Is that her?" Knox broke the silence between us.

"Huh?" I asked absentmindedly, turning to him as he coughed to hide his amusement.

"Your mate. Is that her?"

"How did you," I didn't even have to finish my question before he couldn't hold it anymore, a chuckle escaping his lips as I glared.

"How did I know it was her? Maybe because you've been staring at her since the moment she walked in." He shook his head, the stupid amused smirk of his making me wish he hadn't helped out today so I could punch him without feeling guilty.

"I have not!" I demanded, the smug bastard only shaking his head again.

I turned to my pup, absentmindedly wiping her face. As always, during meal times, there was more food on her chair, body, and face than in her belly.

"Invite her to our table; I want to meet her," Knox said, my head whirling to him.

"No," I replied simply, my best friend, quickly becoming ex-best friend, calling an Omega over.

"Don't you dare!" I threatened, the smirk growing on his face as the she-wolf he'd called approached.

"Invite Miss Sofia to join us, please!" The Omega looked at me for confirmation as I sighed in defeat and nodded.

"What are you doing?" I whisper-shouted as soon as she was out of earshot. The asshole had the audacity to shrug.

"Just wanted to meet your mate, is that so bad?"

"Yes!" I hissed just as Sofia's body turned, her gaze questioning as it settled on the two of us before she walked over.

"Alpha? You called me?" Her gaze searched mine, nerves lacing her tone.

"Oh, come on. If all goes right, we'll be family sooner or later; call me Knox." He gestured for her to sit, Sofia's confusion slamming into our bond as she took the offered seat.

"So, tell me about yourself?" I shut their mindless conversation out as I thought of all the ways I could get back at Knox later. Or murder him - both were fine options.

"Alpha Zane?" One of the Omegas working tonight called, pulling me out of my thoughts. "There's a problem." I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling an impending headache. It was already too loud, too stressful, too crowded; the last thing I needed was more problems before I could deal with the hundreds of old ones.

"There seems to be a lot of those," I muttered under my breath, then turned back to the she-wolf, "what's going on?"

"Unfortunately, Alpha, there aren't enough rooms in the pack house for everyone whose homes have burnt down. A lot of the wolves with intact homes have offered to take in some of their friends or family, but it's still not enough," she explained.

I'd figured hours ago that someone would come inform me of it, but hoped it was all in my head. Turns out the wolves in the dining room really were a lot and not just by my standard.

"Sofia can have a room in your suite, can't she?" Knox threw innocently, Sofia choking on a piece of meat she'd been chewing.

"I-" I opened and closed my mouth like a fish, not knowing what to do with the sense of dread rising inside me and the hopeful look in the Omega's eyes.

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled, Sof's shocked gaze and Knox's satisfied one alerting me just how bad of a situation I'd gotten stuck in.

A/N

Hi, Treasures! Make sure you join my F-a-c-e-b-o-o-k group Teddy's Treasures for extra content and discussions! The battle is finally over! Honestly, we love Knox for pushing these two together lol