“Good. I’m not sorry he is gone, either. I’m happy you are here, that your pup is here, and that we all are home.” I knew it might cause issues when Finlay’s mother and his brother’s mate came. But I was ready to kick them out of the pack the second they tried to make Finlay feel bad about what he did. He had been protecting me and our pup, and I would happily return the favor.

Late afternoon the next day, Finlay and I got a mindlink from the guard at the gate. Finlay’s mother and Sarah had just entered the pack land.

“We better go and greet them,” I said, holding out my hand towards him. He took it and followed me as he mindlinked his aunt. The three of us watched as the car, with our two warriors and the two women, drove into the village and up to the pack house. Tamara looked older and tired. It wasn’t hard to see the past year had been hard on her. The other woman who stepped out of the car, Sarah, looked terrified. In a way, I could understand her. She was an Omega who had mated the worst kind of Alpha. She had to leave her own pack and had been stranded in the Ocean Shore pack ever since. I didn’t know what she had been through during her time in that pack, but I guessed it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Now she was forced to another pack, one where the Alpha had killed her mate. Again, I knew nothing about her relationship with Ryan. If she had loved him, meeting the man who killed him must be hard. For the first time, I questioned why she hadn’t gone back to her original pack now, when she could.

“Tamara, welcome,” I said and smiled at my mother-in-mating.

“Amie, thank you. You look absolutely radiating,” Tamara told me, and a tired smile came across her face. She reached out to hug me, but Finlay pulled me in behind him as he took a step to place himself between me and our guests.

“No touching,” he told them. Matilda gave me a look and then walked up and gave her sister a hug. I knew what the look meant: deal with him while I distract the guests.

‘Finn, I know you are on edge, but she isn’t going to squeeze me to death,’ I mindlinked him.

‘Stranger things have happened,’ he answered.

‘I will be careful,’ I promised. I walked around him and stopped by his side again. When he didn’t react and Matilda had hugged her sister, I made a new attempt and walked up to Tamara, gave her a quick hug, and then returned to Finlay’s side. He put his arm around my shoulders.

“This is Sarah,” Tamara said. We all nodded towards her, and she visibly shrank when our focus was on her. Tamara placed her hand on the young woman’s back.

“Welcome. We have arranged two rooms for you in the pack house,” I told them. Sarah looked terrified by the mere suggestion. I wondered how she would survive a week with us.

“Would it be too much trouble for us to share a room?” Tamara asked.

“Not at all,” I said, thinking it would be the best thing. I mindlinked a pack member to ask them to put a new room in order and then tell Matilda which one.

“We thought it would be nice with a family dinner tonight. It has been too long since last time. Amie and Finlay will cook for us,” Matilda said. She skipped the part where both Finlay and I were hesitant to have the two women amongst the pack. We wanted to make an evaluation of them first. Family dinner was a nice excuse.

“Sounds lovely,” Tamara agreed. Matilda took the guests to show them the pack house and get them settled in. I took Finlay home to make sure he calmed down before he needed to use sharp objects to cook.