I bit my bottom lip. “Mom first, mate second, omega last.”

I repeated the vow they’d had me promise, even though it put me on edge.

Eli rolled his eyes at my guilt. “That’s nothing less than what the Mother wants.”

“I know,” I whispered, but I still felt bad.

Mark Jenkins had just been badly hit with arthritis in his left knee, and it was stopping him from getting about the place as easily, which meant he was getting depressed.

Then there was Elsa, our housekeeper. She’d just lost her first pup and was so sad about it that I could feel the tears she wasn’t allowing herself to spill. Especially when she was around Knight.

I sucked in a breath though, because they were right. I couldn’t do it all, and the best thing was? No one expected me to.

I’d already had a pile of the pack come in to meet Knight, and each of them had told me to take it easy.

There was no reason to feel guilty, no reason whatsoever.

Tell that to my overactive mind, though, huh?

I huffed a breath, then focused on Eli. “What is it? Why did you go full wolf?”

His lips twitched at my nickname for when he had to blast someone with alpha yumminess.

Sure, for anyone else, it made them piss their pants. Me? It just turned me to mush.

“Leon Yardley just called me,” he rasped.

“Why?”

Leon was an odd duck. He and his wife, Maribel, lived out on a farm on the edge of pack land and rarely came over to town. I tended to meet them only when they came to the circle for monthly pack meetings.

They had a small son who was a—

Well, I shouldn’t say it.

But he reminded me of Damien. From The Omen?

The creepy kid was nothing like Daniel, who was flourishing in our care, growing stronger and stronger with each month that passed under Eli, Ethan, and Austin’s calming guidance.

Seth was just plain strange.

“He just told me that he’d whipped Maribel and expected me to punish her in the circle.”

My mouth dropped open at that as astonishment hit me. I jerked upright, unsettling Knight, who squawked, and I closed my eyes, quickly flickering through the balls of power that represented each member of the pack. When I found her, I sensed her distress, her horror at what her husband had done, and her misery.

She was going to—

“She’s in danger,” I rasped.

“No. I scared him shitless—”

“From herself!” Quickly, I whispered to her, trying to ease her. “It’s okay, Maribel. Please, the pack loves you. We love you and need you—”

Then I felt it.

And my eyes popped open. “She’s pregnant.”

Austin and Ethan froze, but Eli just looked resigned. “I know. That’s why he whipped her. Insisted she’d cheated on him. Dumb fuck. Like mates can even do that.”

I heaved out a breath. “We only gifted the placenta last night—”

“It couldn’t have worked so fast,” Austin mumbled. “We’ve had no real time to prepare the pack!”

Eli caught my eye and dipped his chin. “It looks like the Mother’s work is already underway.”

My mouth tightened. “We need to see her. She’s suicidal.”

Austin rumbled, “I’ll go.”

“Bring her back here,” I demanded.

His nose wrinkled. “That Seth kid is weird.”

“I know.” I blew out a breath, then repeated, “I know. He’s troubled, and I might need help with him, but bring them both.” I rubbed my forehead where I was starting to get a migraine as I worked on talking to them while also trying to stop Maribel from doing something stupid. “Be quick.”

When he strode over to me first and kissed me, I sank into him a little, needing his strength to keep me together.

As our mouths joined, as our wolves rubbed up against each other, I found myself grateful for each of them.

More grateful than ever.

The next phase in our journey as pack leaders was just beginning.

I could only hope that the Mother hadn’t put too much faith in us.

Epilogue

Lidai

I watched as the bitch trotted into the circle, shaking her head as the shift overtook her like she’d shake off water if she were wet.

“All is well, Merinda?”

“Yes, Mother. All is well.”

“Why do you come to me, child?” This wasn’t what we’d agreed when, all those months ago, while loaded with grief and horror at what she’d done in her long life, she’d pleaded with me for a second chance, and I’d told her that second chances weren’t gifted often.

Even then, only with great sacrifice.

But she’d been a weak woman, and that was my fault. I’d tied her to a man who wasn’t worthy of her, a man who had ridden roughshod over her wants and needs. My blessing had been to give her a second mate, but even he, powerful alpha though he was, hadn’t been strong enough to overtake the first.

From my stance, always overlooking the circle, I saw the wolf hovering on the edge. Only Merinda could cross the line, and only there would she shift. But her role was not that of a shifter anymore.

She was a she-wolf.

And with her mate, they ruled a different kind of pack, one that would serve her sons while giving her a chance at a better life.

A life upon which I led her astray.

When her first mate had killed her second mate, I’d had the chance to snuff out her existence and his, but Eli…he had a purpose. He needed his mother’s guidance to keep his powerful wolf on the straight and narrow. I’d let her live for his sake, and I let her live again because this was my fault.

My sins were here, in this circle. My mistakes, the errors in my judgment… I didn’t make them often, but the consequences were far reaching, and my children were still dealing with them.

Evil had sown its seeds among my children. They’d drifted from the path I’d granted them, thanks to the insular channels I’d set them on, and I needed to make amends.

Merinda was my first step toward that.

She lived again with her true mate, with their children who she could cherish rather than set aside.

It was a parallel life, not as sweet as the first might have been, but a gift nonetheless. An apology from me so long as she served Sabina and dedicated her life to protecting her and the purpose she represented.

“It’s difficult, Mother. I just needed to speak with you.”

“What is difficult, child?”

“The need to hold Knight.” She blew out a breath. “He’s so powerful. He takes my breath away. I’m—”

I sensed her fear for him. “His future is already set in stone, Merinda, and I promised his mother that he will be safe.”

She dropped to her knees at that, her hands raised to her chest. “Thank you. Thank you.” She pressed her forehead to the dirt. “My gratitude is beyond compare.”

She’d had such potential. It was such a shame that her love was stunted by an overbearing mate, who even with his second chance, had wasted his life on attacking her child when he could have lived.

I sighed, and the wind picked up, leaves floating and surging around her. Her second mate howled, not appreciating the locked ‘gate’ between him and his distressed female, but I disregarded him, focused only on her.