Their traded family

15. Chaos

Hope's P.O.V

Six hours later, well into the night, once my parents and cousins had arrived at Silver Claws, my entire family and I, my birth mother now a part of that, too, sat in the large pack living room, that didn't look quite as large with everyone sitting around.

Uncle Knox sat on the couch near the door, one identical couch sitting behind the centred coffee table. Apart from the two couches, there were two armchairs as well, placed neatly in front of giant floor-to-ceiling windows. Aunt Dali, now out of the medical wing, although she had had another breakdown when her mate explained everything, seemed to be doing better now as she sat between uncle's legs, tucked into him with a blanket. Her skin was still a little pale, probably due to the shock, not that I blamed her, but whenever her mate asked if she was okay or needed to lay down, she smiled and was her warm, loving self, so amidst everything else, I decided not to worry about her, too.

Just as I watched my uncle place another loving kiss atop her forehead, their twins burst into the room, my heart both bursting with joy to see them after months of being apart and crumbling with disappointment and worry as mom and dad were nowhere behind them and the door clicked shut.

I turned to Ru, Liv too engrossed in making sure her mom was alright, being her usual protective self, and silently asked where they were.

"Coming," she mouthed, and I slid down in my seat, just a tiny bit, at the thought of seeing them again.

I prided myself in being strong, in being raised like a warrior and a good future Gamma for Blood Moon, but right now, I felt anything but strong. I felt spent, exhausted both physically and mentally, and my head refused to wrap around the fact that today was not a nightmare. That my birth mother was actually alive and the male who helped create me, or rather forced my mother to conceive me, was the same male I considered one of my best friends. One of my uncles, a part of my family.

I turned my gaze away from the family as Ru slid to sit on the rug near her parents and twin sister, her father briefing the two in on what was going on. Liv wasn't listening, not really, too busy squeezing her mom's hand and... and staring straight into the depths of Alana's soul.

If I was overwhelmed, I didn't know how the hell she was holding up, and Liv, with the calculating glare in her eyes, both blaming her aunt for hurting her mom and wondering if she could be trusted after so many years, which admittedly everyone wondered at least twice today, wasn't helping.

My birth mother took it all like a champ, however, that emotionless mask slipped on her face as she stared ahead. Even Hadley couldn't detect any emotion from her, not even the tiniest bit, as if it was not a mask that covered her face but she really did just feel nothing.

She did take a quick glance at the twins, however, seeing her nieces for the first time. If her and aunt Dali hadn't been kidnapped into the trafficking ring they lived for so long in, if my aunt had stayed with her mate and found him at sixteen, if my birth mother was the only mother I knew, she would've raised the twins right alongside raising me.

Alana sat close to her sister, aunt Dali not leaving her out of her sight should her sister slip away again, so she was in one of the armchairs near the window. Uncle Zane sat in the other one, although he hadn't been happy to give up his seat on the other couch, where he would've sat with his mate had it not been for Owen.

My own mate had refused to sit apart from me, always mumbling something to himself about how he must protect me, although I didn't know what he was actually protecting me from. Aunt Sofia sat next to us on the sofa right as the door opened and in came my parents, holding hands.

I let out a little whoosh of air, of relief so tangible that it was sweet, at seeing them together. They'd made up, just like I knew they would, so even if they no longer loved me as much as before, they loved each other just the same.

Mom and Dad's eyes immediately settled on me, and before I could wonder whether it was appropriate or not to jump into their arms and hide away from truths I didn't know whether or not I was ready for, my mom's eyes watered, and she was running to me, and suddenly, I was running to her, too, and before I knew it she'd had me in her arms, squeezing me tightly but gently in a hug I didn't realise she knew I needed.

"Mom!" I murmured against her, my head buried in her shoulders, although I'd gotten taller while I was gone, and now had to bend in order to do that. It must be because of Julian's genes, why I was so tall and why Hadley was as large as she was. It must be because we had Alpha blood running through our veins, and as much as I loathed having anything from that bastard, it was out of my control whose blood I carried.

Mom squeezed me again, inhaling my scent as another pair of arms wrapped around us and suddenly, dad was hugging the both of us to him as I let out a little laugh, chocked by the tears pouring down my cheeks.

I'd missed them. I'd missed them so bad my heart hurt, and I hadn't realised it until now. Now that I did, however, their absence was all I could think about. Not having mom train me with her encouraging smiles that only I noticed, or the dip of dad's chin when I did something he was proud of, not having him study with me until three in the morning when i couldn't grasp certain material on my own, not having mom wake me up for school with my coffee mug in hand; I'd missed all of that, and now that I knew, I wasn't sure I could ever be apart from them again.

Not for that long, I meant, because If today was any indication of the type of mate Owen was going to be, it was as possessive as they got, and I highly doubted I'd be able to live with my mom and dad for much longer. I didn't hate that idea, however. Him not being a rogue but a member of Blood moon, the two of us living in a little cottage just the two of us, close to the pack house so I could be near family. No, I didn't mind it one bit. In fact, when I glanced at him and saw him already looking at me, I craved that life and was more than ready to start living it.

With his stare pinned on me, he walked over at the same time as my parents and I drew away, my mate dragging me into his side. His arm wrapped around my waist, and for a second I thought my dad might actually turn red and explode like some ticking bomb, his glare on Owen's arm so harsh he looked like he wanted to cut it off. My cheeks reddened as I pushed away from Owen, and I should have known it wasn't going to do me any good when he simply pulled me further into him after I escaped all of two inches. That whole exchange was monitored by dad, and, to make matters worse, mom, too.

"Owen," my mate thrust his hand into that of my dad's, firmly shaking his hand, "Hope's Goddess given mate." I saw dad's one tighten until I was sure he would brake Owen's knuckles, but my mate just stood, not an ounce of pain on his face, and simply smiled.

And Goddess, that smile. I might've died a little bit inside. It was the most unique, darkest one I've ever seen, nothing like the one of anyone around me. It was both beautiful and sinister, as if his face lit up with not joy but danger, and worse, as if he wanted it exactly like that.

My stomach tightened into a knot as dad turned to look at me, eyebrow raised. It was only then that I saw mom watching me with the very same expression.

"You found your mate?" She asked, and unlike what I'd thought, there was only longing in her tone, like we had so much catching up to do, not an ounce of accusation.

"Your mate is a rogue?" Dad's voice had no longing to it as it spoke about Owen, only coldness that he reserved for those outside our family.

Hadley didn't like the initiation that our mate was anything but family, and being an Alpha wolf, easily overtook control to growl at him.

"He could be a fly for all I care!" She snapped, Owen smirking from beside her before she released control back to me.

"You need to control your wolf better," dad reprimanded, and I shook my head with a scoff.

"As if you would be able to keep Slater in control if anybody disrespected mom."

"No need to fight on my account, clover, I'm perfectly capable," Owen whispered in my ear, making me shiver, "although it's a pretty sight."

I pushed away from him again, and this time, he let me, because if I stayed close to him another second, my voice would forget how it was supposed to work and then he would never let me live it down. Neither will Ru, or my uncles, which I've teased relentlessly for how soft they were around their own mates.

"Anyway," mom cut in before dad and I could continue to bicker, a smile spreading onto both our faces, "congratulations, pumpkin."

Awkward tension cut through the room after her words. There were no more happy distractions after the one my mate provided, and my family and I were thrown back into reality and having to deal with it.

I'd momentarily been distracted from my birth mother, my very much alive and breathing birth mother, but a pang of guilt shot through me as I looked back at her.

I didn't how it felt to be back into your pup's life after sixteen years only to see and hear said pup call another female mom, and although she deserved it for abandoning me, I could imagine it hurt and I didn't want her to hurt. After all, she may have abandoned me, but the choice to have me in the first place had never been hers, either.

As I looked at her face and found her already watching me, however, the first genuine smile I'd seen of hers was slipped over her face. There was not an ounce of jealousy in her eyes, but the same could not be said for mom, who pushed me behind her and bared her teeth at Alana.

"You have no right to waltz in here and lay claim over my daughter!"

"Sit down, Paisley, no one's laying claims over Hope." Uncle Knox demanded, mom staying rooted to her spot, snarling and all. "Do not make me use force!" The only force he would use was his Alpha voice and we all knew that, yet my mom grumbled and sat down, anyway.

Thankfully.

"I don't know about your mothers, but the only one allowed to lay claim over you is me, clover." Owen whispered as he led me back to our seats on the couch, purposely pushing himself against me as if to make space for my parents.

"Hope is our daughter and no one will take her away from us!" Mom exclaimed, still glaring at Alana as I shook my head.

"I haven't tried to take her anywhere," my birth mother answered calmly, not matching the glare thrown her way. Before my mom could reply, with more useless claims and insults, probably, aunt Dali cut in.

"Pais, please! If anyone was planning to take Hope from you, then we wouldn't have called you and Shawn in order to hear my sister out. We wouldn't have stayed away for six hours just to make sure you heard every word as it was."

"You're saying that just because she's your sister! You may have mourned her, Dali, but that doesn't change the fact that,"

"Enough!" Uncle Knox demanded, looking down at his mate with a concerned expression.

He was worried about her passing out again, most likely, but also about her mental health. I knew enough about my aunt to know how much she'd been through and that it would leave a toll on anyone, and by my aunt's haunted eyes and sad frown, he was probably right to worry.

"Alana is my mate's sister, which makes her family. We do not attack family, Paisley!" Goddess, this was going to one long, long night.

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! Welp, the perfect family is already getting a bit chaotic, so I hope you're ready for what's coming as in the next chapter, the book gets significantly darker.