I made sure Amie was seated between me and my aunt as we sat down to have dinner. The tension was clear, and Sarah looked at me like I was a monster. In her world, I probably was. Amie, my aunt, and mother tried their best to keep a conversation going. They stayed away from anything that had to do with my brother, with Amie being pregnant, and with the council, which didn’t leave much. Sarah and I mostly stayed silent. It seemed that she was afraid, at least of me. As for me, I was trying to deal with my emotions that were popping up like pimples on a teenager.

It was clear how close my mother was with Sarah. She protected her and was constantly checking on her. Apparently, I wasn’t as over the favoritism of my brother, and in extension, his mate, as I had thought, because it rubbed me the wrong way how close my mother was with Sarah, and she hadn’t even taken time to congratulate me and Amie on having a pup. Or bothered to reach out to Amie to talk at all in the year we had been mated. The next thing that irritated me to no end was how we were expected to ignore the fact Amie was pregnant. No one had mentioned it, not even in passing. It made me feel like my pup was unimportant, that the life Amie and I had created was no big deal, when in reality it was everything. It was one of the biggest miracles and gifts I had ever received. When I felt myself almost reaching the boiling point, Amie smiled at me and leaned in and kissed my cheek. I couldn’t help myself but smile back. I felt my anger diminish to a simmering stew.

“Amie, this fish is amazing,” my mother said and plated some more of it for Sarah.

“Thank you. But it’s actually Finn who caught it down in the river when he was fishing with Jake and Mari, and then cooked it,” Amie said.

“You know how to cook?” my mother asked me, unable to hide her surprise.

“When I mated, it seemed like a reasonable skill to learn. Amie and I always wanted a family, and I knew I had to do my part. I can’t just expect Amie to cook all the time. It has already come in handy. There are days when the little one takes more of Amie’s energy than usual,” I said, placing my hand on Amie’s bump. I wasn’t going to play by their rules. “It’s nice to be able to spend those afternoons at home. I can make sure she takes a nap while I make us dinner.”

“He is spoiling me,” Amie told them. “He even asked my mom to teach him to make some of my favorite childhood dishes.” I just kissed her hair. Spoiling Amie was my favorite pastime. My mother looked at me like she didn’t know who I was. In a way, she didn't. Sarah looked at me with big eyes. After that, the conversation flowed a little better. I had an easier time keeping my emotions under control. I could feel Amie was holding something back; I just didn’t know if it was for my sake or because of something else.

It was a big relief when dinner was over and my aunt took my mother and Sarah back to the pack house. I pulled Amie into my arms and kissed her. After the kiss, she let go of her feelings, and to my astonishment, it was anger she had been holding back. White-hot, blazing anger. I just stared at her for a long time.

“Red?” I asked.

“I don’t like it, okay?” she said.

“Okay. What is it you don’t like, sweetheart?”

“I don’t like how she makes you feel. I know how you struggled at the beginning of the evening, and it makes me furious! And I don’t like how they pretend we’re not having a pup, how your mother ignored her grand-pup, and I hate how upset it’s making you,” she explained, and I felt her anger build as she spoke. If I could have claimed her as my mate a second time, I would have done it in that second. Instead, I drew her in for a heated kiss, and I kept kissing her until we both needed air.