I took Sarah into the living room and made sure she was comfortable on the couch. She had brought her needlework and sat on one end of the couch working on it. I sat down at the other end, giving her some space.

“That is beautiful, you are very talented,” I said after a while.

“Thank you. Tamara taught me when I first mated her son,” Sarah said.

“And you are already this good at it? Impressive. Aunt Matilda has tried to teach me how to knit, but I don’t have the patience for it. After a while, my mind starts to wander and I lose count of where I am. I do like to watch her when she does it. It looks so relaxing,” I told Sarah. It was the longest conversation we had ever had. I had a feeling she wanted to say something, so I waited. I started to feel my intuition was wrong as the silence had dragged on for so long when she finally spoke.

“Alpha Finlay treats you with a lot of kindness,” she said. It was a statement, but she asked it as a question. I smiled as she had brought up one of my favourite subjects: my mate.

“He does,” I confirmed. “I don’t know how much you know about our history,” I said.

“Tamara told me you discovered you were mates quite a while after meeting each other, she never explained why,” Sarah said.

“It’s true. We knew each other for six years before our bond clicked into place. He has always treated me well. I had some deep emotional scars when he found me, but I knew after my first weekend here that he was an amazing Alpha and a good wolf. I was blessed to get him as my mate. My first mate rejected me, so I know how precious a good one is,” I told her. Her eyes grew big.

“You were rejected?” she asked.

“I was. In front of my entire former pack. It wasn’t a fun experience, and it made it hard for me to trust. Finn just has this way of making me feel safe, which is why I got into his stupid truck after talking to him for an hour and letting him take me here. He has always made me feel like I had value, that I could contribute to the pack and that I was important to him.” I looked at Sarah, and there was something in her eyes, a shadow of a pain I recognised. It was self-doubt and the pain of thinking you weren’t good enough. “Ryan wasn’t like that?” I asked. Sarah looked down at the needlework; she was fidgeting with some loose threads.

“No,” she said in almost a whisper. I let her take her time. “He was very determined. He knew what he wanted, and he focused on getting it,” Sarah continued. It was as if she was so used to not speaking ill of her mate that she was trying to frame his actions in as good a light as possible.

“We have heard stories about the new rules from the families we have taken in and those who our allies care for,” I told her. I could see a shiver run down her body.

“I tried to be there for the women, but in the end, I couldn’t take it. Listening to their stories. It was just too much for me.” I could hear the tears in her voice and moved to sit next to her so I could comfort her. I understood where she was coming from. I knew how hard it was for me to listen to the stories, and I didn’t need to live in the middle of it. She was also not a strong person. I wondered what the moon goddess was thinking when she paired Sarah and Ryan. Neither was what the other one needed. Then, maybe if things had turned out differently in Ryan’s life, he might have benefitted from a soft mate. In the right circumstances, she could have softened his edges, and he could have been her strength. There was no use in speculating about it.

“I know it must be hard being here, with Finlay and everything that happened with him and Ryan. Just know that you are safe here.”

“Thank you. You must be relieved now that you are expecting a pup. It will solidify your position with your mate and the pack,” she said, looking at my bump. I should have expected her views to be skewed after being mated to Ryan, but it still caught me off guard.