His mother slipped out of his embrace and walked down the steps to come to stand before Freya. “I’m Charlotte,” she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly. “I really want to throw my arms around you, daughter, and welcome you into our family but I suspect you would find that a little overwhelming. Instead I will just say that we are honoured to have you join us. And I will never be able to repay you for saving my son’s life and bringing such joy to him once more.”
Freya was almost eye level with Dayton’s mother she was so tall. The wolf had such a regal bearing to her, her face so beautiful framed by wispy blonde hair like most of the Alexander family. She had been concerned when they had welcomed Dayton home. The emotion in their voices when they spoke of Faith made it plain they had loved her very much. She had suddenly felt apprehensive that they would look at her and find her lacking somehow.
But Charlotte’s eyes were so warm, her face still streaked with happy tears at having her son back. Her words held such emotion, sincerity ringing in every one of them.
She had called her daughter. It had been so long since Freya had had a mother, thousand of years since someone had claimed her as their child. She was stunned to find herself yearning for that once again now that it was being offered by the woman before her.
“Tactile contact is a new experience for me,” she conceded quietly, “but one I am slowly becoming accustomed to. I would be honoured to accept an embrace from my mate’s mother.”
“You are so going to regret that,” Willow laughed loudly a second before Charlotte threw her arms enthusiastically around Freya.
The vampire stiffened at the swiftness of the hug and then slowly relaxed allowing the wolf to have her way. She gave her a tentative squeeze back remembering she’d accidentally broken Connor’s hand not so long ago. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, it felt quite soothing to be embraced by Charlotte.
Freya caught Dayton’s eyes over his mother’s shoulder and she was rocked by the utter joy she witnessed on his face. Becoming part of his family meant so much to him. He already looked so much happier, so much more carefree now that he was with his family. She hummed with pleasure that this small thing she did was enough to make him happy. After all he had given her, it wasn’t so hard for her to bend and accept his family into her life.
She tightened her hold on Charlotte to reinforce her acceptance of the woman and then slowly released her gazing warily at the others. Where they all going to want to hug her too now?
Iain laughed his arm still loosely around Dayton’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll ease you in slowly, Freya,” he smiled. “Welcome to the family. We’re lucky to have you. Oh, and I’m Iain by the way.”
“But you can just call them Ma and Da like we do,” Willow added.
“Willow!” Dayton growled softly worried about just how much his mate could take in the one go. The Alexanders were pretty full on with their openness. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it was probably too much for Freya.
“What?” she growled back. “I’m just trying to help Freya feel like part of the family. You’re all going on about Faith without a thought to how that might make Freya feel. I only wanted her to know she’s just as special to us as Faith was, even if we haven’t really had a chance to get to know her yet.”
Dayton softened his tone walking down and gathering his sister close. “You’re intentions are good but don’t get carried away,” he sighed. “Freya needs time to learn how to cope with all of us and she knows just how much I love her. She is not threatened by memories of Faith, not mine or our family’s.”
He was so confident when he spoke that Freya felt the last of her worries about joining this family melt away. Dayton loved her and admitted it freely for everyone to hear. Yes, his family had memories of his first mate which they cherished but they were welcoming her to make new memories with them. And Willow had defended her even though she didn’t even know her. That was quite staggering. She had never felt so accepted before by total strangers.
“I don’t want to cause any family discord,” she finally said causing Charlotte to laugh.
“This isn’t family discord, darling,” Connor drawled. “This is typical Alexander family life.”
“Sorry I’m late!” another hulking blond wolf called drawing Freya’s attention as he hurried up to them. It was easy to see he was an Alexander. He had the same gorgeous good looks, though his face had a slightly more serious edge to it, as if he was a deep thinker despite the obvious happiness glowing in his cerulean blue eyes.
In his right hand he had a carefully wrapped box and with the other he grabbed Dayton around the neck and planted a kiss on his head. “Good to have you home, big bro,” he said solemnly. He smiled at Freya. “I’m Brody.”
Dayton shrugged off his hand and gave him a mock glare rubbing at his hair as he did so. “I can’t believe you kissed me! That is just so wrong, Brody. I thought you would have grown out of that bad habit after all these years.”
It was a long standing joke between them. His brother had always kissed the top of his head since he was a little, knowing it irritated Dayton so much. Brody just grinned unabashed.
“Just don’t knock knuckles with the vampire, Brody. She broke my hand when I did it.” Connor called out and Freya felt herself start to flush scarlet, waiting for some form of condemnation to come from the family surrounding her.
Charlotte clipped the back of Connor’s head gently but hard enough to make him grumble “Ouch!”
“Good for Freya,” she laughed. “About time someone put him in his place. You and I have a conversation coming up in the near future, my boy. Ordering your mother around!”