Mark took the pictures and just stared at them with me. It was almost surreal how much my life had changed in less than half a year. Heck, I hadn’t even graduated yet, and I figured I needed to get busy so I could finish before they arrived. Since they were growing faster than human babies, the pregnancy would be even more draining on me than normal.
My head was still spinning, making him sound like the Swedish chef in the Muppets- I knew he was talking, but I couldn’t understand what he was really saying. He noticed how spaced out I was as just handed me a few pamphlets and a couple bottles of prenatal vitamins. “It will all sink in, eventually. Give me a call if you have any questions.”
He left the room as we continued to just look at our babies. They were perfect.
Finally, he put them in his pocket and helped me to my feet. “What do you want to say to people?”
“I don’t want to hide this. We will tell everybody at dinner, then tonight we can call your parents. Maybe I can text them the pictures while we talk on the phone?”
He smiled. “They’ll be so happy, especially Mom. Now she can buy all the blue stuff in the store.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not kidding, she can’t be stopped.”
“I’m in so much trouble. I don’t even have a nursery yet.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of help on that.” He squeezed my hand as we walked across to the Pack house. “You’re going to be an amazing Mom, Ella. I still hate that you picked him over me, but I can’t help but love you and our babies.”
I leaned into him a little. “You can’t fight the mate bond, Mark.” I let him think about that for a moment. “She’s not a bad person, you know. I had a lot of time to talk to her after I got her out of the hospital, and over the last few days when she was recovering. I forgave her for what she did, Mark. I don’t want you punishing her for it anyway.”
“It’s just…” He stopped walking and turned to face me. “I saw how broken you were, Ella. How betrayed. I hated them for what they did to you, and I wanted to hurt them for it. Those feelings just don’t go away, Ella. It will take time.”
“Believe me, I know.” I took his other hand in my bad left hand. “Nothing says you have to run off and get mated tonight. Just talk to her. Let her tell you what has happened and how she feels about it. Just don’t reject her right away, that wouldn’t be good for either of you.”
He let out a slow breath. “Does the mate bond work to defuse anger? Even before this talk, I was finding it hard to maintain my righteous outrage at her. Every time I close my eyes I see her face when I walked past her.”
“That’s the power of the mate, Mark. Your mate can make you feel better than anyone else, but they can also break you more than anyone. When we get in there, can you do something for me?” He nodded. “Just look at her and smile. Let her know you aren’t rejecting her, that she still has a chance with you. That’s all she wants.”
We kept walking into the Pack house and back to the large dining room. When we walked through the doors, all conversations stopped and all eyes turned towards us. I looked around in panic, relaxing when I saw Remi with her hands in a ‘what did he say?’ position. We walked to the head table and Mark helped me up the stairs to the raised platform. I looked out over the room filled with friends and family and relaxed. “TWIN BOYS, AND THEY ARE ALPHA WOLVES!”
The room erupted into cheers and I was immediately surrounded by people for hugs and congratulations. It took a few minutes for everyone to take their seats again, and immediately the servers were coming out with the food. I smiled to myself when I found Olivia at a table in the back by herself, staring at Mark, and then he smiled at her. Her mood instantly changed. “Go to her, talk it out,” I said. “You don’t need to stay up here if you don’t want to.” He said something to Doug then got up and walked to the back of the room. I leaned over to Remi, she was smiling as she watched it and I gave her a quick wink. Conversation was lively, the food was great, but I was worn out and Remi noticed. “Come on, I’ll take you to your room and get you settled in.”
I took one last look at Mark and Olivia as she helped me up. I smiled, because they were holding hands and their food had hardly been touched, so I knew they were working things out. We walked out among the well-wishers and down the hall to the Alpha wing where the guest rooms were. “I’m glad Mark and Olivia are talking. I was shocked to find out they were mates, but they will be good for each other.”
“No jealousy?”
“No, not really. Once I accepted my mate, my feelings for Mark shifted back to what they were before we became involved. He’s still a good friend, he’ll be a good father, and I want him to be happy.”
She put her arm around my shoulders. “I’m proud of how you are handling everything, Ella. I think you’re learning about the difference between an Alpha and a Luna.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Alphas tend to see things in black and white terms; they define a problem and default to a violent solution. They see enemies and friends. Lunas, we see the shadows, the grey areas. We have to; our role is to keep the Pack strong and whole, and that means dealing with those things that drive Alphas crazy. Jealousy, rumors, relationships, personalities. We know we can’t solve things by killing, so we have to find the best way to deal with what we find.”