The Healing Souls

Starting to Heal

[Mike]

Sunday morning, I dressed and went to the meeting. On weekends, we usually had a morning meeting then had the rest of the day to ourselves. Trent said it was important to have time off or we wouldn’t be as effective. He was the one who started the tradition of ranked members taking weekends off.

When he met Queen Bellamy, he found out she and Alpha Lucien had started a similar tradition at Lune Rouge with a daily end time of about five o’clock in the afternoon. We still worked until seven, but right now, there was a lot of work to do with the new alliances and the changes since the curse was broken.

The air in the office was heavy when I went in. Ben looked tired and Trent was worrying about something. He might look like the stoic Alpha to most people, but we’d been friends since we were in diapers. I could read him like a book.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

After having all of yesterday with my mate, talking about the pups and planning for the future, I was quick to grow concerned. If something happened to my sister while I was being all lovey with my mate, I might never forgive myself.

“Close the door and have a seat, Mike. I need to talk to you about your parents,” Trent said.

I did as he said and sat in my chair. What had they done this time? I knew Trent would want to talk to them about it. He would want to know if they realized they were messing with the future of the pack by keeping the secret.

“I had your mother and father in to talk on Friday after you left. I wanted to find out how much they knew about the magic you were dealing with. I needed to find out if they were aware that they were harming the pack and were keeping it from me. I would have given them an ultimatum about setting aside their feelings and accepting Rock so they could make up for what they did. I wasn’t trying to…. I need you to believe me, Mike, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Trent told me.

He looked like he was beside himself with worry. Trent never worried about one person over the health of the pack, not unless he did something terrible. I looked over at Ben, he was very somber and looked at me with something like sorrow.

“What happened, Trent? You can’t say things like that and leave me hanging with an explanation. You didn’t kill them, right?” I asked. He shook his head. “Then it can’t be that bad. Tell me what happened.”

“I got your father to admit what happened with the fae. That was my plan get him to admit it and see how he was wrong. I even had my dad there to help. We think clearer around our mates and other ranked members of our pack. He didn’t, though. He said the goddess’ plans were idiоtic. I lost my temper. I told him to leave the pack or I would banish him. I told your mother she could stay if she rejected him. And she did….”

I stood, the urge to find my mother was strong. If Ben was here, then Darla should be with her. The pain would have subsided by now, but my mother and father had been together for almost thirty years. This wasn’t as simple as a human divorce.

“Trent, what happened after my mother rejected my father?” I asked.

“He accepted it and disavowed the pack. I gave him an hour to gather his things. I was still so pissed off that he would talk about our goddess and her plan like that. Our goddess’ plans broke the curse. They gave us our mates and our pups. They kept our pack alive and helped us to thrive even in the grips of the curse. Our goddess was the one who made it so we could still find our mates when no one else could,” he answered.

Everyone knew Trent was a devout follower of the goddess. He prayed on every decision he made. Even when he knew he had to betray his younger brother back in April, it was after hours of praying on the subject. All of us had been raised that way.

To think that my father, who taught me to always trust the goddess’ plans, called them idiоtic…. I couldn’t fathom that he was the same person. This man, this person who thought he knew better than our goddess, who thought he was above her laws, wasn’t the man who raised me.

His distrust of her had to have come from Carmen being mated to Rock. It didn’t matter that the goddess gave him what he asked for when he prayed to her for a werewolf mate for Carmen. The fact that Rock was her second chance meant that she had betrayed him.

“We’ll give my father a week to cool off. We can find him and offer him a place in the pack again and a chance to reconcile with my mother. After a week without the pack and his family, he’ll reconsider his stance. I know he will. My father is just angry, he’s not stupid,” I told Trent. “If I can be excused, my mother needs me.”

“You forgive me for what I did in my anger?” Trent asked.

“Trent, you always have the best interests of the pack in your heart. I know you didn’t want to do this. My father, like all of us, knows what will trigger your anger. If he chose to disparage the goddess in front of you, it was his choice. He was pushing boundaries and pushed them too far. I forgive you. I’m sure you’ve been asking the goddess for forgiveness ever since it happened. Tell me who all knows about this.”

“Ben and Darla took care of your mother last night. Brice and Ginger are with her now. I sent a letter to your sister through Gemma, but she hasn’t contacted me, so I don’t know if she’s had Rock read it to her yet. I don’t know how many people your father told on his way out,” he answered.

“We should announce that he left the pack, but will be welcomed back, so everyone knows that mistakes can be made and that the ranked members are forgiving. It will paint us in a better light and everyone already knows my dad was pissed about you letting Rock take Carmen,” I said.

“That’s a good idea, Trent. Why don’t we work on the announcement? Not a lot happened overnight. We can get it all ready for tomorrow morning. Mike, go see your mom. I know you weren’t planning to tell her about the pups, but it might help her. She’s pretty upset about what happened,” Ben told me.

I nodded and left the office. Though part of me wanted to be mad about what Trent did, both of my parents made their own decisions. My dad could have asked for forgiveness when he realized what he did, but he was probably too wrapped up in being right.

When I got out of the packhouse, I didn’t bother with my car. I ran toward my parents’ house. I needed the exercise. The struggle with my wolf was intense. He wanted to go find our father and rip him a new one for putting my mother in the position of having to reject him. Blitz was my wolf. He blamed Trent and my father equally for what happened.

It was difficult for me to disagree with him. Like I said, my father knew how to piss off Trent. I didn’t know what he thought would happen. I was betting his anger got the best of him, too. My mother should have been able to calm him, but he must have ignored the bond.

The front door was unlocked when I reached the house. I opened it up and went in. Ginger was in the kitchen, making some tea and a light breakfast. Brice sat at the table with his head in his hands. No one was with my mother.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“She told us to leave her alone. We figured she needed a break from being tended to and decided some food and tea might help,” Brice answered.

“Did Alpha Trent talk to you?” Ginger asked.

“He did. I’ll take care of my mother. You two go get some rest. She might need you more later. I’ll link my mate and we can handle it from here. Thank you for helping.”

“She made a hard choice, but she made the right choice. If Matt is forsaking the goddess, then something is wrong with him. She didn’t let him drag her down with him,” Brice told me.

I nodded and headed back to her room, linking Beth on the way. They’d see themselves out. I opened my mother’s bedroom door and found her sitting on the side of her bed, holding her wedding photo. It normally hung over their bed.

“Mom?”

She looked up at me and stared. No tears filled her eyes. She looked smaller and more fragile than all that crying ever made her seem. I could see how truly heartbroken she was.

Crossing the room, I sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her. She leaned against me and returned her gaze to the photo. I remembered seeing it as a kid and thinking that was what true love looked like. The way they couldn’t take their eyes off each other was exactly how I wanted to feel about my mate one day.

“When we married, he said he was mine forever and nothing was more important than the gift the goddess gave him in me. I know he believed in the goddess, but something changed. Did the goddess really mate Carmen to that troll?” she whispered. “Was I wrong? He told me it had to be a trick and I believed him. Did I really hurt my daughter because I couldn’t see the truth?”

“Shh. Carmen will forgive you. She loves you, even if she’s mad at you right now. The seer she saw told her that Rock was always intended to be her mate. The other was only given to her because of how hard Dad prayed for a strong werewolf to be her mate. Carmen is very happy with Rock. He’s taking good care of her,” I murmured as I stroked her upper arm.

“I called him such terrible things. I called her ungrateful. I was doing everything I could to snap her out of the magic, but it wasn’t magic, was it? I thought we were right. I never thought he could lie to me.”

“What happened with you and Dad? I didn’t understand why you were fighting it so hard. I understand that you didn’t want to give your baby up to the fae, but why didn’t you tell Landon what was happening?” I asked.

“Your father said he wouldn’t understand. Part of it was that we were afraid Landon might make us give Carmen up. I know I could have had other babies, but I didn’t want to lose any of my children. No other child would make up for the one taken from me. I wasn’t with him when the fae approached him in the human town.

“I didn’t hear that you would be the last Beta because of us not giving up Carmen. Your father never told me what she said. All this time, I thought it was Beth. I didn’t know you were suffering because of us. You’re my baby as much as Carmen is. I would never want you to suffer. I don’t think I could have given up your sister for your happiness, though. I’m so sorry, Mike.”

“Mom, you are not at fault for this. Now that Rock and Carmen are together, and I accepted them from the very beginning, the goddess has given me the ability to get my mate pregnant. Beth is pregnant, Mom,” I told her gently.

Beth appeared in the doorway as I told my mom about the pregnancy. She went and sat on the other side of my mom. Mom turned and hugged her tightly.

“I’m so sorry for what we did to you, Beth. Please will you forgive me?” Mom asked.

“Of course, I will, Corrine. Ginger left some food warming. You need to eat something. The pups need their grandmother to be strong enough to pick them up and play with them,” Beth said with a smile.

“Pups? More than one?”

“Three as far as we know right now,” I replied.

“The goddess truly does provide if we follow her path,” Mom whispered.

“Would you consider moving into our quarters in the packhouse for a while when the pups come?” Beth asked.

I locked eyes with my mate. It would give my mom something to look forward to and could help a lot with trying to care for three pups so early on. I never would have asked Beth about it, though. I didn’t want her to feel like I would be upset if she didn’t like the idea.

‘You didn’t have to do that for me,’ I linked my mate.

‘Your mother is my mother. She just lost her mate. She needs something to look forward to. More than just seeing the pups, caring for the pups will reconnect her with the world.’

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to offer this out of pity. I let people pity me too much over the years,” Mom replied.

“We’re sure, Mom. Carmen and Beth are already planning the baby shower and things. I know they would want you to be part of these talks.”

“We’re not asking you to move in right now and not permanently, but for a few months, or even the first year… I think that could be a big help,” Beth told her.

“I would like that very much. Do… do you think Carmen will talk to me? I want to apologize for what I said about her and her mate. I want to apologize for not defending her when your father attacked her and I want to apologize for my part in the Beta Roald situation. I am happy Ashley ended up being his mate. I thought of all of your friends like my own children.”

“I’m sure you have time to apologize to everyone you want to. Let’s go have some breakfast, then we can make some plans. I don’t want you to hole up here and suffer. If you’re feeling down, I want you to call Ginger or Elise. They’re your best friends and they care about you as much as we do,” I said.

“I will,” she replied.

We got up and helped mom to the kitchen. I served up three plates of food and the tea Ginger prepared. It was still pretty warm. Mom looked even more drawn in the much lighter kitchen.

If Dad was keeping the truth from her and manipulating her to make her believe and act in certain ways, maybe he wasn’t redeemable. I didn’t like that idea, but I had to accept it. There was a chance only one of my parents was able to be in our lives.