Page 8 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“My wolf destroyed the whole room, so...” he shrugged, and, for a second, he seemed... awkward?

I nodded. I was no stranger to Father’s fits of rage and grief in the aftermath of Mother’s death.

“I’ll shower in the guest suite bathroom next door, and then I’ll be downstairs, so come down whenever you’re ready. I mind-linked my mom that we’ve arrived and she’ll stop by soon to meet you.”

???

The first thing I noticed about Dominic’s mother – apart from the fact that she smelled both comforting and delicious, like cloves – was how beautiful she was.So that's where Dominic gets his looks from, I thought.

She had long, dark hair and unblemished, fair skin. Her tall figure was wonderfully curvy and she looked... soft.

“Penelope, I'm so happy to meet you!” she exclaimed before she hugged me. Yep, soft.

“It’s great to meet you too, Luna,” I said, not knowing how to address her.

“Please, call me Florence. You’re the Luna now,” she grinned and seemed really happy. “I feel like I already know you in a way since I knew your late mother.”

“Just from the Alpha summits or were you friends?”

“I’d like to think we were friends, as much as the distance between our packs allowed it. I was very saddened by her passing. Lauren was a special female.”

I must have made a face because she quickly added, “Not in the way that everyone else considers her special.”

I gave her a little smile and swallowed around the lump in my throat.

“Yeah, she was.”

Dominic took a step towards me, and when we both looked up, he said, “Why don’t you two sit down, and I’ll get us all some coffee.”

“Tea for me please,” I responded without thinking. Then, mortified, I amended, “but I can make it myself, why don’tyousit down?”

“Penelope,” he fixed me with a look and headed for the kitchen without another word.

His mother grinned again and pulled me down to sit on the uncomfortable couch.

“So how is everyone at home, Isaac will be joining us soon if I remember correctly?”

“That’s right.”

“That is wonderful, I imagine twins don’t like being apart.”

“It’s not the end of the world, but it’s nicer when we’re close to each other.”

“I remember talking to your mom about you two being born early, and how you were particularly small, but she always called you her little fighter when she talked about it. Look at you now, a beautiful grown female.”

My stupid eyes filled up with tears without my permission. Florence wordlessly took my hand in hers and we sat in silence a bit. Dominic soon brought the tea and sat down across from us.

“How old is Evangeline now, 15?”

“Almost.”

“I remember how focused everyone was on the miracle of her birth, you know. They were ecstatic that one of our kind had given birth to a third pup, for the first time in recorded history. It was in all the papers for months. But all my conversations withfemaleswere focused on the now motherless pups,” she was looking through the glass wall now, as if she had gone somewhere else. “Dominic and I know very well what your family went through. We lost my mate in 2004. Dominic was only 12.”

I looked up at my mate and he looked like a vein in his temple was going to explode.

“I’m sorry for your loss. I was seven when Mother died,” I told them, and I don’t know why I didn’t stop right there. Maybe because, finally, someone was talking aboutherinstead of themiracle.“Countless wolves were in and out of our house for months. Doctors, scientists, pack leaders. Everyone around us just kept congratulating us, talking about how we were The Blessed Family, but Isaac and I just wanted our mother. It was horrible.”

Dominic got up and went outside. Florence looked at his back sadly as he was walking away from us.

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