Page 178 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

Stepping inside, Braylen kept glancing at me, and I thought I could see him becoming more and more uncomfortable with every second.

“We stopped by yesterday, but no one was home,” Lily said, holding out the covered dish. “It’s baked ziti. You can reheat it. Three hundred for thirty to forty minutes.”

Taking the dish, I smiled politely. “Thank you. What’s this for?”

She blushed. “It’s the South. We bring food when things are bad.” Her smile faltered. “I’m very sorry about your son being taken.”

I’d forgotten that Braylen’s family were part of the pack. They’d probably been at the meeting where Cole had announced that Ash was kidnapped. Suddenly, the look on Braylen’s face made more sense.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Carlisle,” he said, and I could hear the misery in his voice. “We…we shouldn’t have let him go with that guy.” He stared at me with pleading eyes, and for a moment, he was no longer a teenager but a small boy asking for forgiveness. “If we’d known, we wouldn’t have let him go. We thought he knew the guy and?—”

“Braylen,” I said gently, cutting off his rambling. “You couldn’t have known. I don’t blame you. If you’d tried to interfere, then maybe more people would be dead. It’s truly okay.”

He licked his lips nervously but nodded. “All right. Yeah. Okay.”

Lily gave me a grateful smile and patted his arm. “He wanted to apologize in person, even when I told him it probably wasn’t necessary.”

“I appreciate it, Braylen,” I said, trying to catch his eye, but he was still staring down at his feet.

“I brought the food because I know if I was in your situation, the last thing I’d be doing would be taking care of myself. Not having to cook a meal would be one less thing to worry about,” Lily said.

“What’s all this?”

I turned as Cole came in through the back door, a faint sheen of sweat on his head.

“Oh,” Lily said, chirping the word in a surprised gasp. “Alpha Garrett, we just?—”

“Call me Cole,” he said, smiling more broadly as he closed the door behind him. He nodded to the boy. “Braylen. Good to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Braylen said. “Uh, you too.”

“Well,” Lily said, trying to get her bearings again after the surprising arrival of their soon-to-be pack alpha. “We stopped by to bring Avery some food and give her our sympathies.”

“I think I can speak for Avery and myself when I say thank you for your concern.” He looked at the container in my hand. “You didn’t need to do all that, though.”

“It was the least we could do,” Lily said. “After everything you’ve done for us and what you’ve gone through.” She looked from Cole back to me. “A lot of the pack moms feel for you. A bunch of us have wanted to stop by and bring you some food. You don’t know how much what happened to you has touched all of us. I can’t imagine how stressed you must be.”

It was touching. I’d never expected this type of response. The whole situation had an insular quality to it, like Cole and I were going through this chaos alone. Even with the few friends we had helping us, I’d begun to feel like the whole world was against us.Now, I saw that wasn’t true. Knowing that the entire pack was with us, that we had their emotional support, gave me a much-needed sense of comfort.

“That means a lot,” I said, choking back the emotion that threatened to spill over.

“Anytime you need anything, let me know,” Lily said, and we quickly exchanged numbers. “We’ll let you guys be,” she said, nudging Braylen toward the door. “I’m sure you’re both mentally exhausted.”

“Thank you again,” I said, lifting the casserole dish. “This will be great for lunch or dinner.”

Braylen gave me another awkward smile, then glanced at Cole. “Uh, I told Avery, but I wanted to tell you, too. I’m really sorry about what happened. I wish I’d done more to help.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Cole said. “Don’t worry about any of that, okay?” Cole winked at him.

Braylen smiled, and it was genuine this time. “Yeah.”

I choked up as I watched them walk out. Seeing a mother with her son only made me more desperate to have Ash back again.

Cole touched my arm, drawing my attention away from my thoughts of my son. “Trent called me. He wants me to discuss some of the stuff Scotty told us about. You want to head out and meet up with him?”

The last thing I wanted to do was be cooped up in a house any longer. I’d literally done nothing but hide away inside four walls since Ashton was taken.

“Actually, I want to go to the store. We need some stuff at your house, and I’d also like to stock the pantry and freezer here with stuff for when Ashton gets home.”And hewouldbe home soon, dammit.

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