Page 77 of Her Second-Hand Mate

This situation didn’t scare me; on the contrary, I knew what to do and how to take care of her. Mom must have realized it, too, because she looked at me like she’d never seen me before.

“You know, I never thanked you. I apologized, and explained, and cried, and talked myself silly on the topic, but I never thanked you for getting me through the worst time of my life.”

“You’re welcome, Mom,” I said but my voice was shaky and hoarse with the emotion choking me.

“You were alone then, but you’re not alone now, okay? Please don’t forget that.”

“I won’t. Thanks, Mom.”

Soon, Theo arrived to take us to the hangar where the pack’s plane was kept. As much as I hated using it, we couldn’t drive to Utah since Gabriel was too young to spend all that time in the car seat. Even the half-hour drive he spent crying and squirming in his contraption as I sat next to him with Penelope slumped in my arms like a lifeless doll. I hated the circumstances, but loved thefeeling of her in my arms. My wolf was whining and desperately wanting to comfort his mate, but we were both helpless.

“You’ll be alright, love. It will get better. It doesn’t feel like it right now, but it will.”

I nuzzled her mark with my nose. Biting it was all I wanted to do, but jolting her back into reality like that, while effective, probably wasn’t what she needed at the moment.

So I gently kissed it instead and I could feel her wolf’s gratefulness and love at the gesture. Penelope herself was still lost at the sea of sadness.

“I’m here for you both. Don’t worry about a single thing, Penelope. Take all the time you need.”

Once we were on the plane, Isaac took over with Penelope for a while, and the twins just held each other as they mourned their grandmother, who had probably been more like a mother to them since they'd been seven years old.

Poor Gabriel hated flying; his tiny ears must have been hurting as Mom had warned me they might, although I had repeatedly tried giving him a pacifier, and Penelope let him breastfeed as much as he wanted to.

We were all exhausted by the time a Uinta pack enforcer showed up to pick us up.

“Didn’t they tell you we had a pup with us?” I growled at the male as Penelope sat on one of the suitcases and Isaac glared at the car like that would change anything.

“They did.” he looked at me, confused.

I had Gabriel in the wrap, so I covered the ear that wasn’t pressed to my body before saying, “So where is the fucking car seat?”

“Shit. I didn’t think... No one said... I’m sorry.”

“Just get us a car with a car seat as fast as possible.”

While we waited, I held Penelope’s limp hand in mine and stroked it with my thumb. Gabriel was squirming, probably wanting to nurse again. I mind-linked Alicia.

“Penelope’s grandmother died, and she’s grieving. She isn’t really eating or drinking. Should she be nursing Gabriel on top of everything?”

“While nursing, the mother’s body releases oxytocin and prolactin, which are hormones that soothe anxiety and promote love, contentment, peace, and intimacy. I’d say that, right now, she needs it even more than he does.

But you’ll need to be the one to keep an eye on her food and liquid intake, as well as when the pup has last eaten and which side he needs to latch onto first,” she explained in her no-nonsense way and then added, “My condolences to the Luna.”

“Thank you, Alicia.”

When we finally safely arrived at Alpha Hansen’s house, the pack enforcer was unable to find parking. The place was overrun by visitors who’d come to pay their respects to the Blessed Alpha’s mother. The male himself welcomed us.

“Thank you for bringing Isaac home,” the bastard said. Luckily, Penelope couldn’t care less about his words at the time.

“Let’s not forget your daughter,” Isaac said, but it was like he hadn’t spoken as far as the older male was concerned.

“And is that my grandpup?” he beamed at Gabriel in the car seat egg, and I didn’t exactly feel like putting him into the arms of the male who treated his mother as if she was nothing.

“Yes, this is Gabriel. He finally managed to fall asleep on the car ride from the airport, so I’d rather not move him right now.”

“We have time, don’t worry. Let’s go have some tea in the library, and Penelope can go help in the pack kitchen.”

“Excuse me?”

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