NovelEnglish
Maeve
Cleo and Myla were sitting in awe in front of the hearth in the library, looking down at infants in their
hands. Alison, Robbie’s mate, was holding Will, who was surprisingly well behaved as he peered up at
the perfect stranger in whose
arms he rested.
“I don’t know how I missed him,” Cleo whispered, looking down at Oliver with a soft frown creasing her
brow. “I’ve nev er… Oh, Maeve, I am so sorry!”
“Cleo, none of this is your fault. None of it. We’re all fine
now, that’s what matters!” | sat between her and Myla and on the couch, holding a mug of hot cider
between my hands as | glanced from baby to baby, a wave of relief washing over me. We had all finally
been reunited after Troy and I had separat ed from the Persephone.
ooh “This one looks so much like Troy.” Myla ran her knuckle
over Charlie’s cheek, which caused him to smile in reflex.
Myla beamed, tears glimmering in her eyes.
“Both Will and Charlie look shockingly like Troy, but | think Oliver looks like me.” | sipped my cider again
and caught Cleo’s surprised gaze. She looked down at little Oli, whose name I hadn’t uttered until that
moment. Myla rested her hand against my thigh, then leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you, Maeve,” she whispered, just as Cleo dissolved into tears.
I wondered if Cleo had ever told Myla the truth about Olivia, who had been Cleo’s mate and Myla’s
mother. Based on their ease with each other, and the teary, knowing glance they shared, I assumed that
they had. Cleo didn’t bother to wipe the tears away as they fell, she kept her gaze firmly on Oli, Olivia’s
namesake.
“What a blessing,” Cleo grinned, her voice distorted by a
sob.
Alison, who was pregnant herself, seemed slightly over whelmed as Myla and Cleo prodded me for
details about the birth of the boys.
“I worry about myself,” Alison said, swallowing hard.
“Why is that? You’re strong and healthy, and only carry one child-” Cleo retorted, but Alison paled.
“I carry Robbie’s child, Cleo. He is seven feet tall. I am sure
he was a giant infant at his birth.”
My eyes widened as I took Alison in. She was very petite,
hardly five feet tall herself, maybe shorter. Seeing her stand ing next to Robbie was shocking.
Robbie, Dad, Troy, Rowan, and Ernest were all in Ernest’s old office, talking about Dianny. Gemma had
just entered the
library, George balanced on her hip while she walked behind
a maid pushing a tea cart stacked with all kinds of lunch foods.
Good, I thought. I was absolutely starving,
“I was just in the kitchen and saw your mom, Maeve. She
said there’s a conference of Alphas meeting in town tomor row. And a gala the next day?” Gemma and
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtthe rest of the family from Winter Forest had arrived late the night before, and we had spent the majority
of the early morning explain ing what had happened when Troy and I left for Mirage with
my parents.
I opened my mouth to reply to Gemma, but Myla
screamed.
Myla’s scream, as well as the screeches of all four babies,
George included, erupted through the library and echoed off
the walls.
In all of the chaos of not only my family, but my friends from the Persephone, arriving at nearly the same
time, I had totally forgotten to mention one major piece of information to Myla.
That Gemma, who she had loved as much as I had, was in
fact, alive.
“Oh, Goddess! Myla I am so sorry -” | leaped from the couch and took Charlie from her arms before she
dropped him in her haste to rise from the couch. Cleo had risen, equal ly as pale but much more
reserved in her reaction to Gemma’
s sudden and unexpected appearance.
We had mourned her death together.
And now she was standing in front of us, healthy, robust, holding her cherubic son proudly in her arms.
nma was
Gemma was absolutely blubbering by the time Myla reached her and threw her arms around her. Alison
looked shocked, totally oblivious to what was happening.
| smiled as I patted Charlie against my shoulder, blinking
away my tears of utter, indescribable joy.
“What a fruitful season,” Alison said as she bounced George on her knee. George was rather particular
about only wanting his mother, but Alison had been successful at keep
ing him entertained while Gemma ate with vigor, lost in quite yet animated conversation with Myla and
Cleo at the long ta
ble on the other end of the library.
A thick blanket in front of the hearth had become a sleeping mat for Will and Oli, who were happily
snoozing in the radiating warmth of the wide fireplace. Alison reached up to run her fingers through
George’s hair, who cooed happily, his mouth stretching into a gummy, delirious smile.
Charlie was asleep on my lap, his round cheeks soft and
rosy.
“It has been fruitful,” I replied with a soft smile.
“My mother would have… she would have loved to see
this place.” Alison flushed with sudden sorrow.
“She is more than welcome to visit…” | tapered off, notic ing the tears glistening in Alison’s eyes. “Oh, I’m
sorry Alison, 1
“It’s alright. Truly. I did what I could for her.”
“What do you mean?” While Robbie had been in Dianny
when Tasia went berserk, Alison’s account was what I was most interested in. She had grown up in
Dianny and would see Tasia’s attack in a different light.
It would have been a significant betrayal, and something that took everything she had ever known from
her in a matter of hours.
“My mother wouldn’t leave with us. She just wouldn’t go. Nor would my two eldest sisters… and their
children. I was able to convince my other sisters and their families to leave, but the men… their
husbands, and my brothers, they….”
She swallowed against her grief. She didn’t need to elab
orate, and I told her as such. She was in great pain over the deaths of many, many of what sounded like
a rather large im mediate family.
“Robbie carried the kids out in his arms,” she said with a soft, somber smile, her eyes glistening with
warmth as she said his name. “Four each in his arms, if you can believe it.”
“I can,” I said with a little laugh, remembering the many
times I had been manhandled by Robbie at Keaton’s, and
sometimes Troy’s, orders.
“We were at the beach for just over a week. We didn’t know if Tasia was coming for us, or what we would
find if we went back… Robbie was only one of four men who got out of… of the city before Tasia …
before she….” Another wave of tears fell over Alison’s pale lashes, her cheeks pinkened with an
embarrassed blush. “I am so sorry for my emotions,”
“Don’t be! We have all been through hell and back, Alison.
There is no shame in feeling sadness. I cry all the time,” I said honestly, but the words felt flat against my
tongue. My family
was well and accounted for. Alison’s family was not.
She nodded, glancing up at me with a grateful smile touching her lips. George was reaching for her, his
chubby fists opening and closing as she held him against her chest, rocking them together side to side.
Troy
The castle had erupted into activity over the past twenty -four hours. Parts of the castle I hadn’t even
seen before had been opened up, cleaned and decorated richly, and several large white tents had been
erected in the garden.
Even the evening I had brought Robbie to meet with
Ethan had been married with a flurry of extraneous activity, seeing me whisked away for a fitting for
several formal out fits instead of catching up with our friends. Then Rowan, Hanna, and the rest of the
family from Winter Forest arrived, and all hell seemed to break loose. Maeve and I weren’t get ting much
sleep already, and we had spent the majority of the night awake, passing around the babies and
explaining what had happened.
Maeve was on edge as well as we stood on the stairs, watching through the window as servants set up
several heaters in the garden, preparing for a large party.
“Why didn’t he tell us about the conference? And the
gala?” Maeve asked after several moments of silence.
| crossed my arms over my chest, not needing to ponder the answer. “Because he’s going to announce
me as the Al pha of Poldesse, that’s why.”
Maeve sighed deeply, shaking her head as she turned to
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmface me.
“He should have told you-”
“He didn’t want to give me an opportunity to change my
mind, Maeve.”
It wasn’t going to be as easy as just announcing my title to the Alphas of both the east and west. I would
be facing the High Elder Council, a group of people who had been chosen by the Alphas of the major
cities across the pack lands to act as judges and mediators to prevent future conflicts after the war
twenty-six years ago. Even with the Alpha King of Valo ria’s blessing and my birthright, I would still need
to plead my
case to the council.
The Isles were dead center in a major trade route be
tween the two continents, and I would be the one with con
trol of it all.
“Well, you still have time to change your mind. You know I’ll support you.”
“It’s too late to change my mind, even if I wanted to.”
“If it makes you feel any better, Rowan will be getting grilled by the High Council as well. Plus, all of this
will be overshadowed by the whole… Tasia issue.”
I nodded, gripping the railing. I wondered how Ethan was going to broach that subject to practically every
Alpha in the
pack lands.
Ethan had obviously had this planned for a while, possi bly before Maeve’s pregnancy had forced us to
go to Mirage.
“Why do I feel like we’re about to be thrown into the fire?”
Maeve pouted, reaching up to rub her eyes. It was late after
noon now, and she had spent most of the day in the compa ny of Gemma and Myla, who wouldn’t, I was
sure, have al lowed her any rest.
“Thrown to the wolves, more like it,” I smirked, putting my
arm over her shoulder. I led her back upstairs, thankful that
the nanny had taken the boys for a few hours. “I think you
should try to sleep for a while.”
“I can’t. We have dinner with the entire family soon,”
“I’ll have something sent up for you. They will understand.
They have to understand.”
But I wasn’t sure if anyone, besides Rosalie and Ethan, would truly understand what we had been
through the past
few weeks.
| tucked Maeve into bed, and she fell asleep immediately.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror in the hallway on my way down to the library, where the rest of
the family had been congregating throughout the day.
I wondered, as I ran my fingers through my hair, who the other Alphas would see when they looked at
me at the con
ference. Would they see an equal?
Or would they see me for who I was?
The son of traitors.
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